9 years ago when our oldest child was a few months old we headed out to our home church group one sunday night considering ourselves seasoned parents. As many first time parents of infants do, we had already declared ourselves pros and we knew what we would and would not allow our children to do in the future. We had it planned. We had it together. (stop laughing) During home group a woman who I greatly admired shakily stood up, leaning on a chair, and started telling a story in detail about how she basically went crazy over a hairbrush. Once again her … [Read more...]
The Real Dirty Job: Parenting
There's one show that I've always loved: Dirty Jobs with Mike Rowe. The chance to explore the crazy jobs that people choose to pursue and the high level of muck, mud and human waste just makes for great TV in my opinion. In fact there was even a time that Mike Rowe inspired me to find a manly man who wasn't afraid to get his hands (or pants) dirty. However then I watched the dead cow being ground to pulp episode and switched gears completely to marry a nice IT guy who works in a skyscraper downtown. His dirtiest job is handing Houston traffic each day, which might actually be … [Read more...]
Momma Bear Roar
I wish I had a momma bear roar but I'm a Byrd, not a bear. Lately there's things happening in one of my kids activities that I'm just lost as to how to deal with it. It's not even one issue. It's several little issues. The first issue I put on my big girl panties and nicely confronted it with the people in charge. I wasn't looking for a direct change to the issue, I was simply wanting to let them know what happened and hear their feedback on the problem. Now because of cliques and the issue I brought up being spread around in a group by someone else, there's … [Read more...]
Funerals and Kids
This is a hard topic to broach and in no way am I an expert. However in the past month we have had two relatives pass away and one of the questions we had to ask ourselves was "should we take our kids to the funeral". My husband's grandmother passed away in late January. We had taken the time to slowly introduce this possibility to our kids and took them to visit with her knowingly for the last time in December. Before our last visit with her we told them that she was sick and explained to them what might happen while we were there. We also informed them that because she was … [Read more...]
Serious Burns in Children
There's so many things in our homes that can burn children. The iron, stovetop, hot water, grill and more are things that can burn our children and no matter how much we watch, freak accidents happen. Two weeks ago my 4 year old pulled the coffee pot down on top of herself and suffered large second degree burns. I had never experienced a large burn and honestly I did not know what to do when a child burns themselves or how to treat serious burns in kids. I'm not a doctor or a nurse and I've never played one on TV. I don't know medically what to do right, I just know what we did and what the … [Read more...]
A Mom’s View of Labor Day
Did you know that Labor Day was founded to celebrate the days that we've worked throughout the year? It's a day to relax, kick your feet up and not work. That would be great wouldn't it? Except that I can't kick my feet up because the couch is full of unfolded clean laundry that someone needs to fold before I can sit back and relax. I could probably ask the kids to do it but then I would have to work at hunting down where the hid my stack of clean underwear this time. Notice the words "this time". Last time it took me three days to find them behind our dresser in our … [Read more...]
A Letter To Miley Cyrus
Dear Miley, I get it. I do. I had my wild 20's too. I understand that there's something within you once you get to that age, the age of ultimate freedom that just wants to see how far you can push your limits. You want to see what you can do and you have the need to prove that you are simply awesome. I was there and without a doubt looking back now it was the most shameful period of my life. I would do anything to take it back, to erase time, to keep my kids from one day asking questions about that time period that I might have to truthfully answer. Then I thought I was unbreakable. Now … [Read more...]
How to Travel with a Bedwetter
Traveling with kids any age can be hard but when your child wets the bed, it adds another layer of worry. Traveling with a bedwetter can be tough but it shouldn't stop you from staying overnight at a relatives or a hotel. With a little planning you can travel with a bedwetter, let them go to a sleepover or even send them to overnight summer camp. Bedwetting in older children is more common than most people realize. We have a child in our family that still has issues with wetting the bed at night. For their privacy, I won't tell you which one but it's something that we have dealt with … [Read more...]
The Playhouse
If you follow me on facebook you saw these pictures yesterday. But there's more it than just a picture. You see, my kids built themselves a fort this week using old lattice. It was literally just a pile on the ground in an area behind our garage that I beg them to stay out of because of a large utility box back there. I hate it when they play back there. It's just dirt and electrical wires, the 2 things that no parent wants their child playing in. So I figured that the only way to keep them from playing there was to move their fort. So I took the old lattice and some cable ties and made … [Read more...]
You know those moms….
You know those moms whose kid's clothes actually match.... Yeah. I'm not one of them. You know those moms who actually brush their kid's hair every time they leave the house? Yeah. I'm not one of them. You know those moms who are so flexible from daily yoga classes that they can wrap their legs around their heads? twice? Yeah. I'm not one of them. You know those moms that you see in the store and their breasts are actually still in their original location? Yeah. I'm not one of them. You know those moms who are up at 5 am and have everything on their list done … [Read more...]
